Business

Temporary factors such as holiday furloughs at factories and poor weather conditions led to a resulted in Galax having the highest jobless rate in the state for July.
Galax outranked Martinsville for the top spot, a locality known for having the state’s highest unemployment rates, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.
The city saw an unemployment rate of 16.2 percent in July, when the jobless community doubled to 551. This number is nearly double the previous year’s rate of 8.8 percent.

HIGH POINT, N.C. — John D. Bassett III of Galax has been named an Industry Fellow by the American Furniture Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc.
Bassett is one of six U.S. fellows named July 12 and is a nominee for election into the hall of fame. Voting by members extends through Aug. 16.
The six nominees will be made industry fellows at an Oct. 20 banquet at the High Point market.
Bassett is chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co.

Appalachian Power Co. filed a request Friday to leave unchanged the current fuel factor component of its electricity rates.
The fuel factor is aimed at dollar-for-dollar recovery for the cost Appalachian Power incurs for fuel — primarily coal — and purchased power. It is often adjusted annually. There is no profit in the fuel factor.
The current fuel factor of 2.953 cents per kilowatt-hour has been in place since June 2012.

Virginia gas prices could drop by close to six cents per gallon after July 1 — at least theoretically — says the American Automobile Association.
A historic change to the Virginia gas tax could place Virginia in the coveted five most-affordable states in which to fill up, AAA said.
After July 1 with implementation of Gov. McDonnell’s transportation funding plan, Virginia retail gas prices should begin to drop by about six cents per gallon as the retail gas tax is replaced with lower tax at the wholesale level.

HILLSVILLE — Parkdale Mills officials worry that a treaty negotiating fewer barriers to international trade could further diminish the already challenged domestic textile industry.
Steve Mauck, a plant manager at Magnolia in Hillsville, expressed his concerns to the town council members at their June 10 meeting, hoping to get more signatures and support for the petition that company officials are circulating.

Landmark Media Enterprises, owner of The Gazette, announced that it sold The Roanoke Times to Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group on May 31.
The sale has no effect on operations of the locally-produced Landmark newspapers, The Gazette and The Declaration. The two local newspapers will continue to be printed at The Roanoke Times’ plant, as they have since 2005.
The Gazette and The Declaration will continue to be operated by Landmark Community Newspapers.

The U.S. Senate approved legislation Monday that would require large online retailers to collect state sales taxes, a welcome development for traditional merchants and Virginia leaders who are counting on the extra revenue.
The Senate passed the bill 69-27, getting support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

HILLSVILLE — In a surge of activity on natural gas, Carroll officials continued to build up to the creation of a local utility service at their April 8 meeting.
With the expected completion of a connection to the Patriot pipeline this month, county officials held a public hearing and get natural gas rates, as well as scheduled a separate business and safety meeting for April 25.

By SHAINA STOCKTON, Staff
Vaughan-Bassett Furniture in Galax was scheduled to be operating at full capacity again April 17, after shutting down operations in the wake of a massive water tank collapse on April 10, which caused structural damage and multiple fires.
As of Monday, the plant was almost finished with repairs and debris removal, and the company reported that 75 percent of workers were back at their stations.
Operations were expected to be back at full capacity on Tuesday.

By SHAINA STOCKTON, Staff
A retail market analysis for Galax’s downtown area will help identify the historic shopping district’s strengths and set a course for its future as the city looks at potential improvements.
The analysis was requested by Galax City Council, and the Galax Downtown Association also asked to hear the findings. RKG Associates, which conducted the study, presented its report to council at its April 8 meeting.